Thermal comfort plays a significant role in encouraging people to utilize outdoor spaces. Therefore, this feature must be analyzed and evaluated in order to be improvised. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an alternative technique that predicts thermal comfort and environmental parameters. Validation of CFD is important to ensure its effectiveness. This study assessed the performance of ENVI-met for its ability to estimate thermal indices (PET) by comparing it to field measurement for various points in a street canyon in Port Said, Egypt, throughout the summer and winter seasons. Except for the limited air velocity correlation, the results presented very good agreement, particularly with respect to the final results of the PET visually curved and numerical values, with an index of agreement value ranging from 0.81 to 0.95. The study's conclusions concern the use of the ENVI-met simulation model as a tool for assessing outdoor thermal comfort. Highlights Abbreviations: Environmental parameters; Ta; Air temperature; Tmrt; Mean radiant temperature; RH; Relative humidity; Va; Air velocity; Thermal comfort indices; PMV; Predicted mean vote; r; PPD; Predicted percentage of dissatisfaction; PET; Physiological Equivalent Temperature; UTCI; Universal Thermal Climate; UCB; University of California-Berkeley; ETU; universal effective temperature; Simulation Software; CFD; Computational fluid dynamics; UCB; University of California-Berkeley; LES; Large Eddy Simulation; RANS; Reynolds Averaged Navier Stoke; Error calculations; r; Pearson correlation coefficient; R2; Coefficient of determination; RMSE; Root Mean Squared Error; MAE; Mean Absolute Error; IA; Index of agreement; ASHRAE; American Society of Heating; Refrigeration; and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

With the recent dramatic growth of the building sector’s energy consumption to provide thermal comfort to consumers, the constraints of climate change and the scarcity of energy supplies have necessitated a wiser and more effective reduction in the amount consumed. As a result, phase change materials (PCMs) have attracted much interest as latent heat thermal storage systems in recent decades. This paper aims to explain the possibility of using PCMs in buildings by establishing an overall conceptual framework for the processes of selecting and integrating PCMs in building sector applications. Moreover, it leads to a comprehensive matrix that identifies the best and most common type of material for each building’s component, as well as its temperature and thickness properties, its thermal impact, and the most popular integration techniques. The findings show paraffin as the major used type in all building components, while salt hydrate is employed in facades. The most prevalent incorporating technique is macro-encapsulation, which prevails in most building components with its direct effect on cooling and heating applications.